Social Justice Case Study
As part of an interview exercise I was to write about a social justice topic. Case study is included here because it showcases my writing, my ability to write in long and short form, and also, my life—giving a tiny glimpse of why I stayed home with my kids for a while.
1. In less than 280 characters (including spaces), please describe a social issue you are passionate about and explain why.
In America, an industrialized nation dedicated to conventional medicine, mothers are dying at an alarming rate due to an inability to access proper maternal care. We spend trillions on healthcare, and somehow our maternal death rate is on the rise.
2. In less than 750 words, please share why “others” should care about your selected social issue. Use data and research to support your argument.
In 2008 I gave birth to my second son. Three days later I almost stroked. In the very same hospital where I had just welcomed my baby to the world—after 20 something hours of natural labor, assisted by midwives, and in a major metropolitan hospital—I was not given proper medical assistance. It could have cost me my life, and apparently I am not alone. According to a recent USA Today investigation, over 50,000 American women are severely injured, and 700 die annually—from giving birth. Simple procedures and known protocols are not being followed, leaving children motherless and families destroyed.
Mothers, daughters, aunties—our sisters in rural towns and big cities alike--are dying of complications from childbirth. How can this be? Families left to go it alone, babies left without a mother’s touch, older siblings confused why mommy never came home, and husbands, wives and partners left to parent alone. It’s shameful that this is happening right here, in one of the most medicalized countries on earth.
Postpartum crisis, who knew it was a thing? We all should. It’s on all of us to figure this out. Those numbers, if taken as an average, translate to 14 dead women per state, and 1,000 severely injured. Toss in the mental health ramifications that follow traumatic events, and my guess is there are way more than 50,000 injured women. Society is paying a heavy price when women die unnecessarily.
People naturally want to think these deaths and complications are isolated, that thereare random insurance issues, and multiple underlying causes. But the truth is these women are not being heard. Women are being ignored when they need help the most. The modern standard of care practice (treating all patients the same) coupled with what some consider a medical industrial complex (12 minute office visits) has somehow left women without a voice. When you aren’t listened to you cannot be heard. And when women in the hospital are not heard, they can die.
I was fully insured and felt safe at the hospital where my son was born. My perceived safety was in direct correlation to the knowledge that women deliver babies every day. I wasn’t getting surgery, or dealing with a cancer diagnosis. It was my second time so I wasn’t scared so much as excited to meet my child. I never even took a childbirth class, because I was completely confident my body could handle giving birth. But instead of having my baby, eating a few ice chips, and hitting the road, my story ended up with a more dramatic arc.
Shortly after being discharged I started seeing stars, had blurry vision, and felt shaky. I didn’t know what was happening, but I knew that something was horribly wrong. My sister and I were still in my hospital room packing my bag when it happened, so I called the nurse for help. But instead of checking my blood pressure, or getting a wheelchair, or calling for assistance, my nurse gave me the very specific instructions to walk myself to the ER. She said she couldn’t help me. I was in a metropolitan hospital, still wearing my hospital wristband, and had basically just given birth. And I walked myself to the ER. With stars in my eyes, and my sister by my side, I walked from one wing of an enormous hospital to the other. I didn’t know it at the time but I was suddenly a statistic and had a role in an alarming trend.
Almost as shocking as my story is, and the statistics are, is the realization that even rich and powerful women face issues while hospitalized. Serena Williams, the epitome of feminine strength and power, bravely shared her harrowing birth experience with Vogue. Then several media outlets quickly picked up the story— because it’s big news when a celebrity goes through trauma. Her ordeal has helped shine a light on a growing problem, and her tale of mistreatment by a nurse, and the several complications she experienced resonates with people because, if her voice is not heard in a hospital room, whose will be?
I was lucky and finally got the help I needed. What about the 700 women who didn’t? What about YoLanda Mention, another mother who sat in an ER, with a similar story but states away in North Carolina? She waited hours for care that never came. Mention had a stroke while waiting to be seen. She died before she was heard.
3. In less than 750 words, please describe who your chose as your audience (“others”) in statement 2 and describe your strategy to reach this audience(s).
“Women and children first,” or so the saying goes. It’s hard to believe that was ever a notion in a day and age where children are left motherless because we are too lazy to notice a woman in dire need of medical attention. There she stands before us, vulnerable in a way a man could never understand, left to beg for help in silence. We say these women are tired, and offer rest. We say they are emotional, and need to just wait to bounce back. When what they really need are meds, and a few extra minutes of our precious time. On the surface this seems like an issue for men to fix as they retrain their brains to acknowledge women, but women also need to re-evaluate our deep set beliefs. My own sister thought I was being dramatic as we walked to the ER. She looked at me as we sat there waiting, and said she had to leave for a meeting. Then she left.
If my sister had been aware that I was minutes away from a nurse yelling for the next available room, and that I was dangerously close to stroking, she would never have left. But there I sat—alone, terrified and convinced I would die without a chance to say goodbye to my husband and our 3-year-old, or really get to know my days old infant. Had she taken me seriously, had the nurse taken me seriously … perhaps we all need to take women seriously. We need to know women are in danger, and we need offer help and support during and after pregnancy.
Instead we act shocked for a few weeks when we read their stories, then mercilessly move on. Because we are too busy to realize it could be us. And too disconnected to realize we are complicit in their treatment. It would seem this maternity health crisis is more of a societal problem than anything. The rising maternal mortality rate is a call to action to doctors, patients, politicians, and people in general to listen to women.
It would be easy to blame doctors, nurses and hospitals for the annual deaths of 700 mothers. They are definitely part of the problem, but how we got here—to a staggering 700—goes much deeper. In order to really solve this, we need to examine the way we treat women in America. This is on all of us. A woman not being heard in a hospital room is no real surprise, not even all these years removed from getting the right to vote or the invention of birth control. Because women are not being heard in classrooms, boardrooms, or courtrooms, either.
Admittedly, many positive and amazing changes have taken place in America over the last few centuries. Women now work, wear pants, contribute to 401Ks, have strong opinions and make meaningful decisions regarding their lives and families. And dads have changed over the years, too. Dads go to soccer games, change diapers, help with homework and bake birthday cakes. Progress has been made. But regardless of the passage of time and accomplishments achieved—women still rank as second class citizens. Here we are in 2018, and women are still not truly heard or commonly believed, and there is no easy answer for why.
Imagine all the ideas never shared, the presentations never prepared, the stories never told, and the opportunities never given, all because the message was sent long ago that women were flakey, emotional, and wishy-washy. Now imagine a nurse on hour 11 of a 12-hour shift, made to deal with a new mom, panicked about everything and feeling sick at the same time. It’s easy to see how these medical mistakes can be made. But it’s a reality that needs to change. With the same regularity doctors ask, “have you had a flu shot,” we need to hear them ask women, “How are you really feeling?” We need to hear police officers ask rape victims, “Do you feel safe right now? We can get to details in a few minutes.”
The way to fix this is to have big uncomfortable conversations. We need to acknowledge the disparity between the way men and women are treated. We need to call it out when we see it in others, and ourselves, and work together to really listen to, and see the women in our lives, communities, and world.
4. In less than 300 words, please describe what success would look like after your audience(s) has been reached.
Mothers will always face challenges during and after childbirth, as pregnancy is rife with potential medical issues and puts enormous strain on a human body. But women do not need to die, or be left to wait for care when they can be helped. When pregnant women and mothers are finally heard they will not only feel safe in hospitals—but parking lots, parties, offices, boardrooms, courtrooms and their own homes, too. In relation to the maternity care crisis, women will not die from preventable illness, or lack of cheap medicine not provided because of disconnect, or laziness. In the world at large women will finally be acknowledged for their contributions to society, and their hard work.
5. In less than 250 words, please provide a brief description of Impact Investment.
Pooling resources, financial and intellectual, with the primary goal of helping communities, people, and the world. Impact investments benefit the greater good by helping entrepreneurs, artists, and big thinkers establish businesses and organizations that bring vibrancy to their neighborhoods. In the words of the late great Senator from Minnesota, Paul Wellstone, “we all do better when we all do better.” It really is that simple. When we commit to helping ideas take root and bloom, nurturing creativity, and supporting real people, we invariably bring ideas to life. Establishing thriving young businesses in our backyards and across the globe is possible when there is a deep commitment to equity, decency and kindness—and a devotion to sharing resources and spreading wealth.
Skills/Interests: Writing, Communications, Connection, Authentic Voice, Social Justice, Short and Long Form Specifications
